The
evidence for magic and witchcraft in sixteenth-century Scotland lies scattered in unpublished
manuscripts, nineteenth and early twentieth-century transcriptions, and passing remarks in the
histories of shires and burghs. Its constituent parts have never before been brought together or
discussed as a whole, and the authorís object in this study is to lay the material in front of the
reader and make some preliminary suggestions about how it can be interpreted, in the hope that future
scholars of Scottish witchcraft in particular will be able more easily to construct their theories
with the bricks he has provided. He does not claim to have uncovered all the existing material on this
subject, for there are certainly caches of papers and further references still to be found. But there
is a great deal here which has not been seen in print before, and the picture of Scottish witchcraft
produced is very different from the one which is normally painted.

Author: P.G.Maxwell-Stuart is Research Fellow in the Department of History, University of St Andrews.